Social media, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are amazing things. Millions of people connecting through a network unlike any other. The internet in its self is an amazing concept. There are millions upon millions of different places for someone to visit. Some, admittedly, a lot more appropriate than others. But along with a huge network, comes a huge amount of people abusing these sites.

The biggest problem with social networking these days would be the pictures posted by some users. There tends to be a lot of smoking related photos, and almost always makes this habit out to be cool. I am not against freedom of speech, but there should be a filter on most social networking sites blocking people under 18 from posting mature pictures, including photos of themselves or others smoking.

Smoking is very common in todays society. Music makes it out to be a cool thing, and something that everyone should do. Huge, influential artists like Wiz Khalifa commonly write music about smoking. Many artists rap about extremely mature content and influence their fans, including young children, to perform these actions.

When a picture is posted on social media, anyone can see it. People do not tend to think about the things they post anymore. Your future can be decided by your social networking account. Just deleting an image will not always get rid of it completely. You never know if somebody took your picture and used it for their own account, or tagged you in it. Employers can look into your past social networking and see just what kind of person you are.

Say, you posted a photo of you smoking weed with a few friends in 2012. You get an offer for a prestigious law firm or something like that. They search through your facebook and twitter, and find this picture... very unprofessional on your part. You could lose a job offer due to only that picture. Having a filter on social media sites to block what kind of pictures you are posting could save a job offer.

You may be asking... Why should I sign this petition? It's only going to limit the freedom of speech that all human beings are entitled to. You may be slightly correct, but this advancement in society is only for the greater good of children. I don't want everybody in the world to quit smoking, that's a near impossible task. I want the next generation of people coming into this world to know the dangers of smoking and be properly informed, not influenced by popular names in social media. Please, take the time to sign this petition to endorse the implementation of photo filters to popular social media networking.